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Rating: 
Summary: I simply cannot believe...
Review: ... that no one has mentioned Seaman Staines, Roger the Cabin Boy or Master Bates.For years these cartoon characters entertained children on BBC TV. Then someone pointed out that the names were, not to put too fine a point on it, obscene. Semen stains and masturbates you've probably already figured out, but 'roger' is a synonym for intercourse... The BBC said nothing but never showed the program again...
Rating: 
Summary: Arrgh mateys
Review: Ahoy me fine salty sailors. If ye be lookin for gripping adventure on the high seas, this be the book for ye. It hoisted me mizzen mast and shivered me timbers, Yar! If you've ever wondered exactly what to do with a drunken sailor, this is the book for you. The author, Barry Richard Burg is a great expert on seamen and it really shows through. I was dissapointed to find that the nautical phrase "a three days blow" didn't mean what I thought it did, but the author's loving descriptions of how these pirates would oil each other up with whale blubber and lash each other with the cat o' nine tails more than made up for it. I'm tempted to go summon my cockswain, rent "The Pirate Movie", then kick back and mourn the passing of the days when burly pirates would start their day by opening the seacock and pumping furiously. Customers who bought titles by Barry Richard Burg also bought titles by J. K. Rowling -- coincidence? I think not.
Rating:
Summary: An eyeopener - but it didn't surprise me
Review: Bought this book some years ago. Difficult but rewarding to read; it reads like a Ph.D thesis. I was not surprised at the content -- what would men, outcasts actually, do on a small ship at sea? Same as in prison. Temporary "spouses." When Tampa entertained the notion of the Wydow (sp?) Pirate Ship Museum (which died a politically correct death when local NAACP ranted against it as Wydow had been a slave ship - but NAACP neglected to note many pirates were black and former slaves, some even masters of their own ships. A very good book is out there on that) I was going to wait until it was built and open and then mail them the book! But the Tampa Fathers chickened out. This book relies mostly on the British "traditions" -- seems Americans weren't pirates long enough. Or hid their records better. I actually found the book entertaining. Hurrah for opening up a "lost" piece of history. I love ephemera. This one will shiver some timbers.
Rating:
Summary: An eyeopener - but it didn't surprise me
Review: Bought this book some years ago. Difficult but rewarding to read; it reads like a Ph.D thesis. I was not surprised at the content -- what would men, outcasts actually, do on a small ship at sea? Same as in prison. Temporary "spouses." When Tampa entertained the notion of the Wydow (sp?) Pirate Ship Museum (which died a politically correct death when local NAACP ranted against it as Wydow had been a slave ship - but NAACP neglected to note many pirates were black and former slaves, some even masters of their own ships. A very good book is out there on that) I was going to wait until it was built and open and then mail them the book! But the Tampa Fathers chickened out. This book relies mostly on the British "traditions" -- seems Americans weren't pirates long enough. Or hid their records better. I actually found the book entertaining. Hurrah for opening up a "lost" piece of history. I love ephemera. This one will shiver some timbers.
Rating:
Summary: Well, it did happen, so there!!
Review: One needs to take their hat off to Mr. Burg for an excellent book of the life and times of English family life in the 17th and 18th Centuries. He certainly searched through qiute a lot of archival material to find many of the accounts contained within this unique book. Cats who are abandoned are known as feral cats and are not, as rule very sociable. So who would have believed that children (both boys and girls) would be asked to leave their homes at a very young age and fend for themselves? Who would have believed that society would have turned a blind eye to sodomy, or in many cases, pederasty? It is worth noting that since these "feral" boys had probably never seen or had known about heterosexual sex between two consenting adults, sex to these boys was probably considered a rite of initiation, or at other times, a recreational pastime at best. There were two entries within Burg's book which I found to be of special note. When a pirate ship seized a merchant ship in the Indian Ocean, the ship was borded, the crew was murdered and the only woman on the ship was tossed into the ocean. She was probably seen as a piece of worthless baggage in the pirate's eyes. In another instance, a sixteen year old from England (John Durrant) was engaged in sexual activity with a Hindu man (Abdul Rhyme). The incident happened in plain view of the other pirates and was considered normal behavior. But since John Durrant should have realized that a Christian should not have intimate relationships with heathens, both he and his "lover" were punished for his indiscretion upon the ship's arrival in England. They were sentenced to 40 lashes, with an administration of water and salt applied to their wounds. They were fed bread and water for an unknown period of time, and the punishment was repeated with 10 lashes. For someone looking for a first or second person account of sex between boys, or worse yet, between a boy and a man, this book is not for you. "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition" is a carefully researched, historical sociology book-specifically about the lives of some married couples who saw their children as young adults, and not as the unique and cherished people which they truly are.
Rating:
Summary: BRAVO!!
Review: This book is very indepth in explain how pirates would survive on long journies abroad by sleeping nude three to a bunk like spoons. With the weather conditions, that was their only means of survival. It makes one understand that sodomy was part of their lives, as they usually had several male lovers aboard the vessel. The chapter on hot racking was especially revealing, considering 90% of all pirates engaged in that. This is a very good book about pirates and their lifestyles and I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Dry and speculative
Review: While there are certainly some interesting tidbits here and there, WAY too much of the book is of the form "since no records survive to show X is false, and those records that do exist are compromised in the following ways ..., we may assume that X is true." Chapter One is a 40-page example of this; it can safely be skipped, as it is summarized in the first few words of Chapter Two: "Seventeenth-century Englishmen on all status levels were remarkably indulgent with homosexuality." Those with only a casual interest in the subject should skim Chapters Two and Three and read the last two chapters, Buccaneer Sexuality and The Buccaneer Community. These chapters hold most of what you're probably reading the book for. Here are the bits about pirates and sex. Unfortunately, they are usually only a sentence or two long. Burg uses the little stories to construct an argument, not a narrative. This last comment is not a criticism; he's clearly not setting out to tell a tale of high-seas adventure. (If you want this, go back to Melville.) A criticism: Burg often seems to overreach in the conclusions he draws from his sources (or lack of sources). What looks to be a more satisfying read is "Gay Warriors," edited by the same author. This is an anthology of original sources from Homer to the present day, on the topic of "gays in the military."
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Summary: I love Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition
Review: Yes, most folks give a double take when they see the title to this volume. But really, it is quite informative about the life of a rover, and as the title suggests, it pulls no punches. A bit dry and overwordy at times, but definately worth a read.
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